The Third Year
by TRUE Unknown
Summary: Mode 4 now up! Chiyo-chan invites the entire gang over to her place, but when all is said and done... their world will surely begin to change... Pairings will come shortly.
1. Mode 1

The Third Year

Disclaimer: Any of the characters or themes that appear that AREN'T owned by me are copyright of Kiyohiko Azuma, who created Azumanga Daioh and Yotsubato/Yotsuba&, and thus am making no money out of this. The only thing I own here are some OCs and this fic. No more, no less.

00

**(Morning)**

"Wow... did you hear?"

"Hear about what?? Tell me!"

"Hey! Sorry I'm late! What'd I miss?!"

"Where've YOU been man?"

"Had to bike as fast as I can to school--I saw Miss Yukari break her bike chain, and I had to get away before she could steal my bike again--"

"What's going on you guys?"

"Supposedly some weird and stupid rumor just popped into circulation..."

"Hey, no need to act all secretive and all that... spill it already!"

0

"Hey guys!"

It's the first day of the gang's senior year here at school, and it seems as if the whole gang has been reunited once more in the same homeroom. There was good ol' Chiyo Mihama, pig-tailed child genius extraordinaire. One Yomi Mizuhara was mulling over some things at her desk, wondering what she should get for lunch today. Ayumu Kasuga, known exclusively to her friends and classmates as "Osaka", was simply alternating between looking out the window, and chasing after the colored specks that floated around in her eyes. The giant-girl Sakaki-san was simply perusing through a magazine she brought to class. The athletic Kagura, the one calling out to her friends as she walked into the classroom, headed to her group of friends.

"Ah, good morning Miss Kagura!" The little girl of the group chirped innocently as usual.

"Looks like one more year for us, guys! But WE'LL make it through together!" Kagura stated with her brand of usual confidence, a fist raised in the air.

"Maybe Miss Yukari will be our homeroom teacher again this year." The spacey Osaka pointed out. The loud and unorthodox English teacher was their homeroom teacher during the last two years.

"No doubt about that, then." Sakaki simply said, before breaking away from their conversation to go back to her reading material, absorbed about the perfect feline environment inside a house.

Oddly enough, the sixth member of their clique, the usually loud and supposed 'wildcat' of the group, Tomo Takino, was lost in thought at her desk. "Hmm? Huh? Doubt what?" She didn't pay much effort into joining the conversation.

"Tomo, something on your mind?" The super-athlete walked up to her fellow Bonkura, concerned at her friend's lack of, well, action.

"Nah, it's nothing. I don't wanna talk about it!" Tomo waved her hand off towards Kagura, trying to dismiss the topic at hand. Her head slumped on the desk, looking like she was just about ready to try and pass out intentionally. "And when I say I don't wanna talk about it, I say BACK OFF!" She snapped at Kagura, who was stunned just as she was about to open her mouth.

"Geez! Fine! No need to get all angry with us, Tomo!" Kagura harped back at her.

Just as sudden, the bell rang. Students were piling into their desks, picking favorable spots to converse with deskmates. And, surely enough, the long-haired, bored-looking English teacher, Yukari Tanizaki, walked into the classroom, making her way to the podium at the front of the class, casting her look out to the students in her class.

"Good morning, Class 3-A. I'm gonna be your homeroom teacher, Yukari Tanizaki." She looked at the lazing Takino's desk, almost expecting her to quip a one-liner about the coincidence of being her same homeroom teacher again. "...Oooookay? Anyway,"

And as the teacher went over the immediate basics of the homeroom, Kagura was looking around the room, then turned her head to the child genius. "Hey, Chiyo-chan... don't you think someone's missing from here?" She whispered. "Where's Kaorin?"

0

"Greetings, class 3-C, my name is Kimura-sensei, and I'll be your homeroom teacher for the year."

Fear... disbelief... sheer, quiet terror... that was all that went through the now-tortured mind of one spastic Kaori Aida, often known to her friends as Kaorin. She was stuck with one of the worst teachers in the school, the teacher with the fascination towards high-school girls. The bane of both the female student population, AND to the female members of the faculty.

HE is who she will see at the beginning of school... EVERY DAY...

She felt a part of herself die inside.

0

"...And now I'll take Class 1-B's attendance. Let me know you're here when I call your name."

The favorite faculty member of the school, the popular and friendly Physical Education teacher Minamo "Nyamo" Kurosawa, had started taking role call in her homeroom. She saw a lot of fresh new faces in her classroom, calling their names off one by one on the attendance list. Amongst the first years present in this particular classroom, three notable ones particularly stood out, she mused to herself. One was a handsome green-eyed student, taller than his peers (maybe even around Sakaki-sized), with short black hair that touched the bottom of his neck, a faint scar running down his right eye (though not blinding said eye at all) and two more in the faint semblance of a cross on his cheek. Another one had short brown hair, piercing, almost owl-like yellow eyes, and a cocky smile that reminded the teacher of another one of her students in her P.E. class. The third unique-to-Nyamo's-eyes student was a purple-eyed younger-looking boy with short black hair in the back, two flaps of hair on the side of his head, and bangs dyed almost a blood red. She mused that that specific one almost bore an appearance to Osaka.

"...Eiji Kiragashi."

"Present!"

"Naoko Yamano."

"Here!"

"Myoji Sakakuro."

"Here." The scarred student raised his hand, denoting his presence and identity firmly. She nodded to him before continuing.

"Moto Ueda."

"Right here, Sensei!" The 'owl-eyed' boy student raised his hand excitedly. Although she didn't expect that exactly, she nodded to him for that burst of effort.

"And last one on the list... Masanobu Himeaoki." She saw the red-banged male looking at her directly, his neutral demeanor becoming a little more disgusted. This unnerved Nyamo a small bit. "...Um, is something wrong, Himeaoki-kun?"

"..." He was silent for a few seconds. "Just call me _Kyoto_."

"Oh? How come?" The teacher inquired, letting a normal smile creep up her lips. "Is it because you used to live in Kyoto before you came here?"

"No." He bluntly said, knocking Nyamo's smile off her face with a confused look. "Kyoto's just a cooler name to go by instead of my dumb last name. So..." He raised his hand. "Here."

"Uh... heheheh... good to know."

00

**(Lunchtime)**

"Ah... Lunchtime!" Osaka airily cheered to herself, sitting with Chiyo-chan on the top of the school roof, getting ready to eat their lunches. The Osakan simply bought a few units of bread for herself from the cafeteria, while little Chiyo-chan was eating her own special home-made lunches.

"Wow, Chiyo-chan... your lunch, it looks good like it does all the other times!" The little girl's friend was in awe at the sight of the boxed lunch that she was eating. "I wish I can make lunches as good as that..."

"Um... if you want, I don't mind making a lunch for you every now and then, Miss Osaka." The little girl let loose a smile.

Osaka nodded, and turned her attention to the cityscape that can be seen from the top of the roof. "I love the view up here. You can see EVERYTHIN' up here!"

A sweat drop fell from the little genius. "Uh... _everything_, Miss Osaka?"

The older girl started getting passionate. "Yeah! You can see the city, and the city buildings, and some trees that are inbetween the buildings!" Her face then shifted to melancholy. "Do you think the trees'll be sad if some of the buildings just up and disappeared for some reason?"

"Well... um... it WOULD look weird," Chiyo-chan stated, her head tilted in thought. "But then again, the trees wouldn't be too sad, because people would just build new buildings where the old ones were, or even plant new trees in the old building plots..."

"Ah... so that's what ya think." Osaka stared up into the sky. "...Trees don't like being next to other trees..."

A look of confusion glued itself on Chiyo-chan's face. "Huh? What do you mean by that, Miss Osaka?!"

The child genius and the spacey girl were now just simply talking amongst themselves. Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the roof, the tall first-year student, Myoji Sakakuro, was simply enjoying his own lunch, conversing with who looks to be one of Chiyo and Osaka's classmates, the short-haired and often forgotten-about Chihiro Hayasaka. The girls could hear some bouts of laughter from the other end.

"Hey, isn't that... um... uh..." Osaka was at a loss for words. "What's-her-name over there?"

"Miss Osaka! She does have a name..." the little girl looked over. "But yeah, that _is_ Chihiro-san. I wonder who she's talking to? I've never seen that guy around... do you think he's a first-year?"

"Wha? That's a new guy?" The other one looked bewildered. "I thought that was Sakaki-san tryin' to prove a point over there with her."

"Miss Osaka, that guy over there doesn't look like--" She took another peek at the two conversing teens. "Wow... his face is slightly like hers--but then WHY would she draw lines over her eye and cheek, Miss Osaka??"

"..." Osaka was once more lost in thought... until her eyes opened. "Experimentation!"

"...Uh, let's just finish up our lunch, Miss Osaka..." She chuckled weakly, not really wanting to know what her friend meant by 'experimentation.'

00

**(Afternoon)**

One Yukari Tanizaki was merely going over the English course outline, which was actually a pain to deal with in her own opinion, with Class 1-B. She basically covered the topics of what would be taught in her class, what readings there would be, and following all that up with her semi-usual slice of life.

"...And basically it'll help ya in life if you know at least SOME english. The world's getting bigger and more Anglo-phied, and it won't do ya any good if you do stupid things like FALL ASLEEP IN MY CLASS or GOOF AROUND with your studies!" She smirked at her class. "And believe me, if I feel like it, I can make things around here VERY DIFFICULT for you all!" The class's combined eyes all widened. "...And note, I said 'if I feel like it' because that sounds very tedious..."

The stunned faces turned to signs of 'what the--is she serious?' as they looked at Yukari slumping on the podium.

As one student bluntly asked if it would be okay then to just do nothing and don't worry about the classwork, and earning Yukari's contempt once more, one particular student in the back corner was simply stunned through and through; notably, at the entirety of Miss Yukari herself. Who knows what he sees, or from what perspective this student is seeing her as she finally calms down and starts scritching her chalk on the board, but this student, Masanobu 'Kyoto' Himeaoki, could only smile to himself as he watched the English teacher rant on.

0

Yukari stomped into classroom 3-A after, spotting Tomo waving at her. "Okay, class, do I really have to introduce myself again?? You already saw me this morning at homeroom!"

"Hey Yukari! Sounds like you need to relax! If ya really want, ya don't need to teach us anything today and just let us go for the rest of the day!" Tomo pointed out, really banking on this.

"Nice TRY there, Tomo." Yukari shook her head disapprovingly. "But if I have to suffer through this, the rest of you have to as well." Sighs and groans of defeat wafted all over the room. "Whatever! Now YOU'RE gonna be the one who'll come up here and hand out the course outlines, because you think you can get away with being CUTE on me, Miss Takino."

As Tomo made her way to the front of the classroom and started passing the handouts to her classmates, she passed by Yomi's desk. "You KNOW better than to mess with Miss Yukari when she's... oh, what's the right word... being forced to actually TEACH."

"Oh Yukari's just a little drained out because school started again." Tomo waved the matter off, before resuming passing out handouts. "Once she gets back in her groove, things'll be cool."

"Yeah, that's what YOU think!" Kagura said, taking one from Tomo's hands.

"HEY! I'M THE HANDOUT HANDER! Don't take my JOB away from me!" The Takino girl flipped out.

"Yeah! You're taking the food right out of her mouth!" Osaka added.

"Not really." Sakaki said.

"Um, can I get one too?" Chiyo-chan asked, trying to reach for a handout in Tomo's grasp.

"I SAID LET ME!!!" The loud girl overreacted, pulling the papers out of Chiyo-chan's reach, and retaliating with thwacking her on the head with the remaining handouts. "There! Now will you be a good little runt and let me hand you one--"

"DAMN IT, TOMO!!" Yukari roared. "JUST HAND THE OUTLINES OUT ALREADY!"

00

**(After School)**

"Whew..." Kagura sighed. "I never thought school would END, today."

Yomi nodded, looking out the window. "No kidding. The first day of the school year always seems to be the precursor to boring."

"True that!" Tomo got up from her desk, swinging her bookcase around in a circle. "Well, I'll catch you all later!"

"Huh?" Yomi looked at her. "You're the first to go?"

"That's right!" She laughed triumphantly. "I'm the first to go, first to arrive, first to eat, first to finish eating, AND I'll soon be the first to get a higher grade than Chiyo-chan!"

"But Tomo, you only beat me ONCE when it came to tests." Chiyo-chan butted in. "Aside from that," the little girl seemed fired up all of a sudden. "You'll NEVER beat me again! Hehehehe..."

"HA! We'll see about THAT, you little runt!" Tomo countered, ruffling her hair a little. "Anywho, see ya later!" Tomo ran out the room, leaving her friends with the sound of running into a wall followed by an annoyed cry of pain.

"That's odd for Tomo..." The glasses-wearing girl sighed, planting her palm to forehead. "And that's saying something, because she's ALWAYS odd like that."

"Eh, don't worry about her!" Kagura reassured her, grabbing her books and sliding it in her bookcase too. "At least we all know what's gonna come up tomorrow: more school and homework too..."

"Yeah... that's right." Sakaki nodded, standing up with her things all together in her bookcase. "Today will be the day." She said to herself, leaving the other four of her friends behind.

The other girls said their goodbyes to each other, then left. The sky was now painted a yellowish-orange hue, as students were now leaving the classrooms, heading on home. Some stuck around longer to see about openings for club activities, others just hung out with their friends, and some went about doing their own less-than-normal activities.

0

"C'mon... pick up pick up pick up..."

_"Hiii! Sorry that you called me JUST when I was gonna be away from my phone! Your timing kinda sucks... anywho, leave a message and I'll get back to ya!"_

"..." Moto Ueda sighed in defeat, and hung up on his cell. "Her away message again... C'mon, where are you?--"

"Hey!" The younger male jolted up a little at the sound of the approaching Tomo. "Whatcha doin', _underclassman_?"

"Oh it's just you. Well, if you gotta know, _senpai_, I was just trying to call my girlfriend on her cellphone. She told me she got accepted to this school and that I'd see her today. But she didn't come all day, and she NEVER ignores her cellphone--"

"Yeah yeah, whatever." She walked past him. "C'mon, move it! We can't be late! We still got some things to do."

"Ah! Yeah..." He pocketed his cellphone and caught up to her, walking beside her. "So we shouldn't keep him waiting then... Sis."

"Ugh... I know we shouldn't..." Tomo sighed, an annoyed tone carried in the process as she looked at him. "And don't call me that! We only met two weeks ago, and you've been staying with us for a whole week now, and I don't care what some official medical documents and crap say about you being my half-brother, or what Mom and Dad say, you're NOT my family..."

"Oh... ...I see..."

She sighed, feeling all awkward. "Look, you're an okay guy... a little bit of a _nerd_, maybe, but I might be able to get used to you with some more time. Just don't go all _'lovey-wovey little brother'_ on me and I might get used to ya! Okay?"

"Yeah, no worries there." He cheered up a little, as the two made their way to the city.

0

Laying peacefully on the top of a brick fence, a small, simple grey cat was napping away the rest of the day... until the sound of footsteps woke it up. It tilted its head up to see what woke it from it's delightful cat-nap. It stared blankly as giant-girl Sakaki-san approached the animal. It's simple kitty brain would not understand why this human girl was so fixated with wanting to pat it. However, it knew that it would be fun to repeatedly elude all attempts of giving this human the satisfaction of petting it.

"Okay..." Sakaki said quietly and calmly. "I... I just want to be your friend..." She stepped closer to the still cat. "I won't hurt you... I just... want to..." And from here her arm reaches forward, fingers reaching out, going for the head of the little feline.

That is, until the animal bore its sharp fangs.

0

"Really? You live around here, Sakakuro-kun?" Chihiro asked the taller first-year, walking beside each other. "So you don't live that far from me then."

"Oh? Then where do you live, Chihiro-senpai?"

"Well, it's not far, actually. You would just have to take a train from here to the next stop on the Eastern Line, and it's just a few blocks away from there that goes to the apartment buildings."

"Really now? I didn't know that--"

Their conversation was cut short as they heard, as well as see from a distance, Sakaki panicking and flailing her arms around as the grey Biting Cat had its teeth sunk deeply into the tall girl's hand. She was running around with the animal still in possession of her hand, and thus distracting her from seeing the lamppost in her path, colliding head-on with it. Only there did the cat finally let go of her hand, running away due to the shock of getting banged into a wall.

"...Uh... is she gonna be okay?" Sakakuro asked his senior.

"Oh don't worry, she's fine. Sakaki-san's tough." She dismissed it light-heartedly. "Though... I wonder why Sakaki-san had that cat on her hand..."

The two walked away, leaving the girl to get up by herself, gingerly lick her wounded hand, then deciding to head on home to power through more bandages due to the bite marks.

00

**(Evening)**

In her room, Chiyo-chan was dressed in her pyjamas, getting ready to go to bed.

"We had a good day at school today, Mr. Tadakichi." She said to her great pyrenees, who had barked in response. "Yep! It's so great to be in the same class with all of my friends again." The little girl sighed. "Although, I wish Tomo wouldn't be so... Tomo. But then again that's what makes her, her. I wonder what tomorrow will bring..."

Mr. Tadakichi barked once again in agreement. She yawned a little kid yawn, petting the very soft top of the loyal animal's head, then climbed into bed.

0

"...There's always tomorrow."

Sakaki muttered to herself, looking down at her bandaged fingers, mulling over her latest defeat at the fangs of the Biting Cat. She sat at her desk, pushing her textbook aside so she had more room to look at her animal magazine.

"Yeah... there's always tomorrow."

0

"AW NO WAY!! I SO jumped over that pit!"

'Game Over' were the only words that Kagura saw on her TV as she was playing on her game console. She was sure that she had timed her manuever correctly. She didn't take into account the fact that the one area was slightly bugged.

"MAN! Are you KIDDING ME?!"

0

Already resting in bed, Osaka was breathing comfortably. Her lips turned into an astounded smile, motioning an amazed gasp, no doubt dreaming of something surreal and wacky, like multiple Chiyo-chans picking her up in the air, flying over a minty sea of lettuce and dolphins.

"Wow..." She said airily in her sleep. "Greeeeeen..."

0

_"--lled me JUST when I was gonna be away from my phone! Your timing kinda sucks... anywho, leave a message and I'll get back to ya!"_

"Oh will you GIVE THAT GIRL a REST already??!" Tomo got quite annoyed at her half-brother's attempts to contact his girlfriend. "GOD! If she doesn't want to talk to ya now, just leave her be and call her tomorrow!"

"...I guess you're right." Dejectedly, he hung up his phone and powered it off, setting it on his nightstand. He only took this spare room as his own a week ago, so it wasn't anything to write home about.

"Of COURSE I'm right! Hahaha--YOU can just call it Big Sister's Intuition!" She boasted and laughed out loud, netting a sweat drop from behind Moto's head.

"Tomo-chan! Moto-kun!" The voice of the father Takino called from their living room. "It's starting in a couple of minutes."

"Sweet!" She looked into his eyes, flashing a Takino-brand smile. "Well, nothing says being a part of the family more than watching a movie together, halfling! What do ya say?"

"_Halfling_?! ...Yeah, sounds fun!"

And so it would be a good evening in the Takino household.

00

**(Darkest Night)**

"...Wh-wh-where am I...?? How'd I get here?"

Sounds of footsteps echoing along pavement and puddles, the sound of rain pelting the ground.

"Mom?? Dad?? MOM!! DAD!! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Another pair of echoes following behind. Footsteps running at a frantic pace now. The sounds of hands, clinging desperately to iron gates, and of metal rattling.

"WHERE AM I?! PLEASE! HELP!! SOMEONE!! ANYONE!!!"

Faint steps trailing behind the fearful girl. Gasps of terror.

"Wh-who... WHO ARE YOU?!?!"

**"Shhh... it will ALL be over soon."**

"WAIT... WHAT ARE YOU--SOMEONE PLEASE--"

Blood-curdling screams fading soundlessly into the dim night. Eerie noises, as if carrying away the misery...

00

A/N: It won't get there yet, but the rating will rise up when it starts getting to the more M-qualified material found in the later chapters. Please DO stay tuned.

Also, names go "first name, last name" so as not to add any confusion.


	2. Mode 2

The Third Year

Disclaimer: Any of the characters or themes that appear that AREN'T owned by me are copyright of Kiyohiko Azuma, who created Azumanga Daioh and Yotsubato/Yotsuba&, and thus am making no money out of this. The only thing I own here are some OCs and this fic. No more, no less.

00

**(Early Morning)**

"Ah... nothing like being the first one here." The wide-jawed Mr. Kimura was walking towards the gates of the high school, keys in his pocket. With classrooms filled with teenage girls, the delectable smelling lunch his lovely wife packed for him, and the promises of spending some time after school looking after the flower gardens adorning the side of the school building, he knew that today would be another good day.

"Now, I'll just open the gates, then I'll unlock the doors and then I'll--" He turned his head to the left, seeing...

**_"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!"_**

0

A flock of high school students, boy and girl alike, were making their way towards the school. Amidst their flock, an assortment of specific third-years walked with a few first years, eventually intermingling into a small clique. This grouping, however, wouldn't get much time to introduce themselves more openly to their kohai/senpai, seeing as student movement suddenly slowed at the notice of police officers outside the gates of the school.

"Huh??" Kagura looked at the scene, watching police officers block off a small area outside the school gates, underneath one of the larger cherry blossom trees. "This is new..."

"Wh-why are there so many policemen?!" Chiyo-chan was getting all levels of worried.

"Yeah, what _are_ COPS doing here?" Moto sounded quite annoyed. "Picking on 'punk teens' for no reason, I imagine."

"Hey... THAT BETTER NOT BE IT!!!" Kagura got infuriated at the notion.

"Oh, calm down, the both of you lunkheads!" Tomo moved forward. "Police guys aren't allowed to just pick on people because they want to anymore... they gotta have reasons now to do that!"

"Ohhh..."

"I think we should just keep going in and let the police do their thing, Tomo!" The sensible Yomi followed her. "I don't want you to get hassled by officers because you were making a scene! Even though you ALWAYS do!"

"...Just leave them all be." Kyoto muttered in a simple tone, heading into the school now. "See you guys in homeroom."

"Yeah, I suppose we should get going." Sakakuro turned, grabbing the half-Takino by the collar. "See ya at lunch, Chihiro-senpai?"

"Oh? Oh yes, of course!" She nodded, blushing a slight as she watched him head in and dragging his friend behind him.

"See ya later then, Sis!" Moto waved off at the full-blood Takino, letting go of his friend's grip and walking ahead of him.

Tomo, not exactly impressed at how he gave himself away as her relation, giggled nervously and then slumped in defeat. Yomi leaned towards her, a cocky look imprinted on her face. "SO... you must be a REAL hit with the first years, huh?"

"SHUT UP! THAT'S _NOT_ WHAT IT'S LIKE! AND THAT'S NOT WHY HE CALLED ME SIS!" She roared defensively.

"Girls! What are you doing?" Nyamo appeared from the front entrance, motioning the girls towards her. "Get inside! Class is gonna start soon! And don't bother the police officers too!"

0

"...If questioned by any police officers, just tell them only what you know of the situation at hand... and so have a wonderful day, students."

With the principal's announcement wrapped up, Yukari growled lowly, looking out the window. "Stupid police officers! All they're doing is making everyone's lives at school even MORE complicated than it should be! And it's bad enough that they're still hanging around, doing their C.S.I. nonsense!"

"Why so BOTHERED, Yukari?" Tomo remarked in a creepy fashion. "You got something to hiiiiide from the cops?"

"And if I DID, what would YOU do about it?" The teacher retorted sarcastically.

"I'd HAUL YOU IN, TANIZAKI!" She stood up, and pointed straight at Yukari, who was quite unimpressed by it. "I bet you dress up in a school uniform and SOLICIT SERVICES FOR SHADY GUYS!!"

Her wild exaggeration was met with a blackboard eraser to the forehead. "SIT, DOWN, TOMO!!!" She harped at the loud Takino. "And to think, the day hasn't even begun yet! You BETTER NOT harass me so much when it's English, or else I'll give EVERYONE homework to do!"

Cries of refusal and anger were drowned out by the bell, denoting the English teacher her time to leave. She huffed out, still aggravated by the situation happening right outside the school grounds. She was not aware of, nor did she particularly care about, the student body's glares directed at Tomo.

"She's SO freakin' guilty of something!" Tomo said, rubbing her forehead where she got whapped with the blackboard eraser.

Osaka stared blankly at Tomo. "...You're gonna be the first victim."

"Ha! You got THAT right, Osaka!" Kagura laughed at her fellow Bonkura. "If Miss Yukari suddenly DID go all mass murderer on us, she probably WOULD start with Tomo!"

"OH GROW UP! IF AT ALL, OSAKA'D BE THE FIRST TO GO!"

"NO WAY!! Yukari would be **free** to kill whoever she wants first! And since you annoy her so much, it's obvious who her--"

"OH BE QUIET YOU DUMB JOCK!!"

And as the two members of the Bonkuras started arguing with each other, tall-girl Sakaki was looking out the window, seeing said policemen doing their thing, not seeing Chiyo-chan walking up to her. "Sakaki-san, is something on your mind?"

"No, nothing at all. I'm okay, Chiyo-chan." She turned her head and smiled at the little girl, then turned back to the window. "It just makes me wonder... who would do something like this..."

"And why at OUR school?" Yomi added, unsure of what the heck is going on here. "I mean, our school can't be that interesting, can it?"

"OKAY STUDENTS, get to your seats! Gossip discussion is over!" Class 3-A's first period had finally begun, as students were heading back to their seats.

00

**(Lunchtime)**

"Oh... so he really IS your half-brother." Yomi mused on what she was told as she, Tomo, and Chiyo-chan were eating lunch together in the cafeteria.

"Yeah." Tomo nodded. "Basically, my folks were old friends with this other couple, and they came to my dad for his help; they asked him to donate some of his--" Tomo stopped when she noticed Chiyo still present, looking intently at her. She stammered a little in the kid's presence, unsure of how to get this across. "--DNA. Yeah, his _DNA_. They asked for his help since the husband wasn't able to make a child with his wife. But then sometime after, they had a falling-out, and I never knew he existed until just a couple weeks ago, when I got to meet him for the first time."

"Wow... To meet a family member you didn't know you have..." Chiyo-chan thought. "That MUST be weird, huh Tomo?"

"Well it WAS weird... he _was_ the only child of that couple, so he didn't know how to BASK in this great _'sisterly'_ glow of mine. Then again, finding out that I'm a big sister when I was an only kid myself for so long **is** kinda weird too, ehehehe..." The Takino girl smirked, then calmed a little. "He was a little down at first because he lost the folks who raised him in an accident that couple of weeks ago. My dad met him after, and... well, here we are."

"Well, that doesn't really explain much... but, since he's family... try not to warp him too much, Tomo." The glasses-wearing girl bluntly stated, going back to her lunch. "We don't really _need_ a boy YOU running around..."

"HEY!! I think I'm a DAMN GOOD ROLE-MODEL!!" She huffed, taking a bit of Yomi's lunch and eating it spitefully. "NO BUN FOR YOU!"

"NOOOO!" She screamed, then glared through her glasses. "DAMN IT TOMO, I WAS SAVING THAT FOR LAST!!!"

"YA DON'T NEED IT ANYWAY!!" She finished the treat right in front of her best friend's eyes. "And get a better one next time!"

Chiyo felt that it would probably be better, and a heck of a lot SAFER, if she didn't sit with these two right now. So she got her lunch, and sat at an adjacent table by herself, watching the madness unfold.

0

"Sakaki, what happened to your hand?!"

Kagura took notice of her friend's hand, her fingers all bandaged together.

"I-I got into another fight with him..." The tall girl sighed, looking at her hand. "He never wants to be patted..."

"You mean that Biting Cat again?" The athlete sighed. "How about I come with you after school? If that thing shows up and tries to bite you again, I'LL be there to teach it a lesson!"

"Um... th-that won't be necessary, Kagura." She stammered, not really wanting to endanger the hand-biting little monster. Her eyes then looked past Kagura and to the sudden appearance of one Kaori Aida, holding her own lunch in her hands, looking at her sheepishly. "Hmm? Kaorin?"

"Oh!" Her heart raced a mile a minute with the thought of Sakaki's voice calling out to her. "Sakaki-san... I was wondering... wondering i-if you... wouldn't mind... eating lunch with me right now??" She finally blurted right out.

"You don't need to ask, Kaorin." Sakaki said simply, a friendly smile on her face. "You're always welcome to eat with me and the others."

"Yeah, you never needed permission before!" Kagura beamed back at the unknown-to-them little stalker.

"Really?? Th-thank you, Sakaki-san..." Kaorin smiled, sitting next to the two of them, mentally wishing that Kagura wasn't there. But in her mind, she was happy that she could sit this close to Sakaki, to be able to share a lunch with Sakaki.

"Oh! Kaorin!" Chihiro came in the classroom, heading towards the three girls, though aiming towards the friend she knows more. "Hey Kaorin, I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me--"

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!" She practically shrieked at the unnoticeable girl, stunning her in place, with Kagura and Sakaki just surprised at the loud reaction the tiny girl had towards her friend.

"...Uh... ehehehehe..." She giggled dejectedly. "I... I think I'll go see if Sakakuro-kun won't mind my company then..." Without even bothering to say a goodbye to Kaorin, she left the room.

As Kaorin resumed eating delightfully with Kagura and Sakaki, the two of felt like they wanted to leave as well.

0

"Thanks for letting me have lunch with you guys."

"It's never a problem, Chihiro-senpai. Anytime you want to hang out with us, just say so."

"...Here's everyone's sweet bun. Thanks for letting me know that we had an extra one coming, so I got her one too."

"Oh, hehe, you guys didn't need to do that."

"And why not? It's ALWAYS cool to have an upperclassman hang out with us! But you probably knew her longer than the both of us, huh Sakakuro?"

"...Moto, I will smack you upside your head if you keep butting in."

Chihiro was giggling to herself, truly enjoying herself sitting on the roof with Sakakuro, Moto, and Kyoto. She faintly reminisced when her lunches were filled with this much fun, emotion, and friendship... dating back to her first year in high school, to be more specific, remembering talking with Yomi while Tomo would dart off and see how long it took to get some buns.

"So, anyway," Moto peered at the upperclassman. "Yesterday you acted pretty chummy with our boss, Senpai. So what, did you two meet beforehand or something?"

The two of them looked at each other, exchanging a faint blush and smile. "Yeah, we met during the winter break." Sakakuro started. "I--"

"Okay, so you already met, you don't need to divulge the rest of the info." Moto waved off the topic. He ignored the dumbfounded looks going at him, as his hand reached for his pocket, then started frantically searching his pockets and bookcase.

"God damn you, just FORGET about trying to call her already!" Kyoto was needlessly annoyed at his friend's search. "It's obvious that she's pissed at you for something... Give her a couple of days and she'll call you up again!"

"Firstly, UP YOURS, red-bangs," he hurriedly countered. "And secondly, I wasn't thinking about calling her... or if I even could, because now I'm just trying to find my cell!" He stopped suddenly, smacking his forehead. "Oh yeah, I remember... I didn't turn it off properly last night, so I left it recharging at home."

"...Retard." The dyed one bluntly loosed, standing up. "Whatever... I'm heading to class. English is next, ya know." He turned, taking his lunch with him, heading down the building's stairwell.

"Oh, so you guys get Miss Yukari..." Chihiro looked at the both of them. "What do you think of her?"

"Tanizaki-sensei's an... **interesting** teacher, so to speak, Chihiro-senpai." The tall boy nodded.

00

**(After School)**

At the school gates, many students were on their way home. A few of them were getting ready for their first official days as part of some of the clubs. A short-haired, flat-chested woman in a white t-shirt and blue jeans was standing outside the gates, watching the policemen finish their rounds before heading off. She took a puff of her cigarette, dropped it on the ground, and ground it out with the heel of her shoe.

"Sorry I took so long!" A short-haired male student, dubbed by his peers the 'Tardy', came up to her. "I didn't keep you waiting did I?"

"No. I wasn't waiting long." She turned her head, looking back as a small crowd of students were looking at her. Her gaze turned away from the crowd. "So... can we go now? I-I'm drawing a crowd here..." She said with disinterest.

"Yeah, let's go, Torako-chan!"

Almost immediately, the students who saw the guy and the woman bike away from the scene were already on gossip overdrive, going all _'Who was that woman?'_, _'I knew that guy from first year! He lost his bike to Yukari-sensei once'_, _'Huh? That's a girl? I thought that was another dude that that Tardy was going with!'_, and_ 'He's the guy from the rumor?! How the hell did that Tardboy score with someone who could be a college girl?!'_.

0

"Why's that part outside of the school gate still blocked off?" Tomo looked annoyed at the crime scene, all barricaded with police tape and a crowd-control barrier.

"It's probably because they don't want anyone to tamper with the crime scene." Chiyo-chan said. "It's one of the things a member of the police or a crime scene investigator has to do. That's something you gotta do if you become a police officer, Tomo."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. But the kind of police officer I wanna be doesn't NEED to BOTHER with those details!"

"Tomo," Yomi chastised her friend again. "being an officer isn't all 'chasing felons' and 'shooting bad guys in a red cocktail dress'. I bet even that Fujiko girl from Lupin has to do paperwork between her forays!"

"PAPERWORK?!" The Takino girl recoiled in shock. "NO WAY! I don't believe that for a second!!"

Kagura only smirked at that thought. "HA! With THAT attitude, you're gonna be EATEN ALIVE on your first day!"

The six girls kept walking away from school, just making small talk. They passed by the shrine, noting light tapping sounds following behind the crew. They all turned to see creepy Mr. Kimura, on the same sidewalk as they were, his expression in the same it always was: a creepy stare and a wide gawking mouth.

"Hello, girls." Despite his appearance, his demeanor felt shaky. "What a coincidence."

"WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH US, YOU CREEP?!" Tomo yelled at the man in the safety of their clique.

"What?" The man looked astounded. "No! You misunderstand! I was just on my way to the shrine!"

"Yeah right! Just stay away from us, you no-good lech!" Kagura added to her rightful accusations.

The man sighed, looking at the temple shrine. "I had to see that poor person's body outside the school gates..." The girls became a union of weirded out expressions. "I came early to the school so I can water the plants before classes began. But--_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!**_" He screamed out loud, frightening them and everyone else nearby. He got calm again, continuing as if he didn't break the cycle with a scream. "I saw those dead eyes! Poor, unfortunate, sad eyes. I called the police after. ...I don't think I'm cursed because I saw a body... but, I'll make sure..." He left that as his sign of parting, walking towards the shrine.

"...Damn him, I hope he DOES get cursed." Yomi sighed.

"...He saw Death." Osaka said randomly. "...I bet Death just wanted to say hi back..."

"Miss Osaka, I don't think that's how it works..." Chiyo-chan felt a sweat drop down the back of her head.

00

**(Evening)**

_"We're sorry, but the number you are trying to reach is no longer in service. We apologize for the inconvenience..."_

"...You gotta be kidding me..." Sighing and turning off his charged cell phone, Moto put it back on his nightstand, a hand holding up his head. "What's going on??"

He headed out to the living room, heading straight for the TV remote. He got a call from his parents saying that they'd both be home a little late. He turned on the TV and started flipping through the channels. He stopped when a news program came on, showing a picture of the high school he went to.

_"--high school was brought to a shocking stand-still when an eyewitness stumbled onto a body early this morning. After a complete investigation of the scene, police discovered that the victim perished in a gruesome fashion, having the head crushed in via blunt force, and stomach ripped open, with the victim's intestines flayed around. The victim was a young girl who bore this high school's uniform, and was later identified as sixteen-year old Hikari Tanabata. Further--"_

"I'M HOME!!" Tomo called out, stepping inside and kicking her shoes off. She stepped into the living room, seeing her brother just sitting there, his shocked expression piquing her interest. "Hey, what's with _you?_" She turned to see the news report talking about the murder at the school gates, sitting beside him. "Oh, are they showing what happened at school? What did they find? Who kicked it out there?"

"...A... a girl, Hikari Tanabata..." His voice was shaking. "...my girlfriend..."

"...WHAT?!" She looked at the screen again, showing an old picture of the victim; a brown-eyed girl, smiling politely, brown hair tied up in two poofing pigtails. She then looked at him, watching him shudder a little while the news continued. "You mean she was the body that Mr. Kimura saw??" His eyes were shutting tighter, nodding in an 'I guess so' way to answer her. Tomo was at a loss for words, watching as what were probably tears forming in-between his shut eyes.

"Sis..." He was straining himself, trying not to look so weak in front of her.

There was only an awkward hesitation between the both of them. Tomo scooched closer to him, the older sister throwing her arm around his shoulder, unsure if this was the right way to do things. Then she felt his weight shift closer to her, feeling Moto's arms wrap around her shoulders. This had all felt weird to her, but she knew deep down that this was the right thing, the right sisterly thing to do. The two of them had stayed that way until Tomo's parents came home.

0

Stay tuned for the next installment.


	3. Mode 3

The Third Year

Disclaimer: Any of the characters or themes that appear that AREN'T owned by me are copyright of Kiyohiko Azuma, who created Azumanga Daioh and Yotsubato/Yotsuba&, and thus am making no money out of this. The only thing I own here are some OCs and this fic. No more, no less.

0

**(Evening)**

"Ah... I'm gonna ENJOY this!"

At a simple bar within the city, two educators, one Yukari Tanizaki, and one Minamo Kurosawa, now off duty, are deciding to enjoy a staple of theirs: a relaxing night out on the town, filled with eating out and lots of drinking. Well, lots of drinking from Yukari's end, at least.

"Make sure you don't overdo it this time, Yukari." Nyamo berated her. "Because I really don't feel like walking you home again while you're DRUNK off your rear!"

"Oh, get off already, Nyamo. I'm not gonna get_ 'incapacitatingly' _drunk!" She said, making sure to say 'incapacitatingly' in English just for the sheer purpose of bugging the Gym teacher.

"...Was that even English?"

"Don't care right now! I'm hungry!!" She turned to the back. "HEY! I placed my order half an hour ago!! GET TO IT ALREADY! And keep the drinks coming!"

"Oh my goodness..."

0

"Aaaahh..." Yukari breathed out with a sense of filled satisfaction, "NOW, I feel mush better!" with the hint of alcohol on her breath, she laid back in her seat, a wide grin plastered on her face. "Mmmm... DAMN was the food taaayshty today!"

"Ugh... you're drunk again..." Nyamo sighed, looking down at her empty plate. "But yeah, the food did seem a lot better today."

"Maaaybe they actually put some 'OOMPH!' into it!" Yukari thrusted her arm in the air. She snapped her fingers at the back. " 'YEAH! Keep on keeping on, guys!' The food is 'delicious!' "

"Yukari, they're not gonna understand you if you mix English in your sentences." The gym teacher suddenly glared at Yukari. "And PLEASE KEEP QUIET ALREADY!"

"Oh, of courshe YOU wouldn't understand, Nyams..." Her speech became slurred. "I wouldn't exshpect a Gym teacher to get the kinds of things that go on in my head!"

Nyamo sighed. "You ALWAYS bring up the English vs. P.E. conflict, don't you Yukari?"

"Well it'sh true! You THINK YOU'RE SOOO SHMUG WITH BEING the POPULAR TEASHER!" She rambled on and on. "THEY'RE ONLY LYING, YA KNOW! I'M the popular teachser here--" She leaned forward on the table, a smirk curling up her lips. "I shushpect there's a guy in my English classh who's looking at _my_ cute tush when I'm up on the front... I think it might be... the short-haired guy... or the ugly one... or the other ugly one... or..." Her ramble was left on the air. "...Maybe it'sh Himeaoki-kuuun..."

"Uh... _right..._ now I KNOW you're off the--"

"ANYWAYS, MY POINT IS THAT **I'M** THE REAL POPULAR TEACHER--"

"Oh, and I always thought **I** was a hit with the female students..." Came the observant tone of Mr. Kimura, taking a seat at the counter. He was not aware of the near-heart attacks he gave both of the female teachers. "I'll have my usual order, please."

"..."

"You alright, Yukari?" Nyamo asked. Her question was answered with an unsure, annoyed look from her close friend.

"...I don't know HOW he did it, but..." She slumped on the table. "He scared the CRAP out my buzz! DAMN YOU, KIMURA! I AIMED to be drunk tonight!"

Nyamo decided to stop her friend before she did anything reckless. "So, Kimura, what brings you over here?"

"Oh, I'm just getting myself something to eat." He said simply. "My lovely wife and my sweet little girl are planning something, and they simply shooed me out of our home. They must be planning something exciting! **EXHILIRATING!!!**" He screamed outloud, startling the other two teachers again. "Anyways, eating something will also help take my mind off of that HORRIBLE thing I saw today."

"Horrible thing?" The gym teacher asked. "Oh! Do you mean that incident with the police at the school?"

"YES!" He roared sadly. "I was just going to water the plants while thinking about seeing the girls in their swimsuits that day, frolicking in the pool water... but then I saw that BODY! That poor high school girl! Her cold, perished eyes of shock! They stared into MY SOUL!! And the awful mutilation! Like noodles gone awfully WRONG! And to think, I'll never be able to TEACH that poor girl now!"

His eyes poured tears like waterfalls, which he then wiped with a napkin. Yukari looked unimpressed with him. "Yeah, probably a good thing that you wouldn't get to teach another girl how to avoid you like their lives depended on it."

"Yeah... but did the police ask you any questions, Kimura?" Nyamo asked.

He turned his head. "The nice gentlemen only asked me about what I saw and what I was doing there so early." His expression became his norm of the slack-jawed visage. "But the experience left me so out of touch! I almost even... DIDN'T FEEL LIKE TEACHING TODAY!!"

"AND THANK YOU, YOU'VE BEEN WONDERFUL..." Yukari growled annoyingly, leaving a lot of money and a tip for her and Nyamo's meals. "Well, it's time to go!"

"Yeah, it is." The gym teacher agreed with the English teacher, standing up. "Well, we'll see you tomorrow, Kimura."

"Yeah, unfortunately!" Yukari got up, walked out, and slammed the restaurant door behind her. Nyamo followed after, although she closed it normally.

His slack-jawed gaze fixated on the door, he turned back to the counter, seeing his dinner being brought to him. "TIME TO EAT!"

0

_"Hmmm... don't be afraid... I just want to PET you..."_

Loud hissing, and the Biting Cat leaps away.

_"...You're more interesting... than that girl I butchered... Come here, little KITTY..."_

00

**(Night)**

Yukari and Nyamo were merely walking towards their diverging point, where both would go their separate ways home. It had gotten dark out now, and the streetlights were turning on, lighting the streets and sidewalks. Just as they were minding their own business, making small talk about their students and classes, a police car drove past them in a hurry.

"Wha... MORE police?" Yukari asked, dumbfounded by it all.

"I know... but what can you do?" Nyamo looked at the police car disappearing into the night. "It's not like you can just go up to them and--"

"That, Nyamo the gym teacher, is where you are WRONG." Yukari clenched her fist. "I'm gonna be the _first_ to go see what the damn problem is THIS time!"

Before Nyamo could even try to stop her, she bolted down the street towards all the houses. She sighed loudly. "What am I honestly going to DO with you, Yukari Tanizaki??"

The both of them were running faster now, seeing what the commotion was all about. They had then started hearing loud, frantic screaming, followed by the booming authoritative tones of two policemen. The two teachers saw that the officers were dragging out a long-haired middle-aged woman, clad in blue jeans and a long shirt, struggling to get out of both the cops' hard grip, and the handcuffs binding her.

"Let me go!! LET ME GO!! THIS HAS _NOTHING_ TO DO WITH YOU PIGS!!" The woman was practically snarling, struggling to free herself.

"It has everything to do with you, believe me." One of the officers ignored her struggles, heading to the police car. "Unkempt conditions for family living, negligence, child abuse on both physical and sexual counts, and even audio confirmation from not just your son himself but the neighbors as well."

"Yeah... It's people like YOU who don't DESERVE to have children. It's a miracle your kid lived for so long with YOUR horrible treatment!" The other officer sneered in her face, shoving her into the backseat of the police cruiser.

"DON'T TELL ME HOW TO RAISE MY CHILD!! LET ME GO!!!" The woman kept screaming, and even started thrashing about in the back seat. Her eyes saw something in the house, and the glare that followed seemed intent to burn whatever it was cast on. "YOU..." She thrusted herself to the window. "You little bastard!! YOU'LL **PAY** FOR CALLING THE POLICE ON ME!! YOU THINK YOU'RE FREE FROM ME? YOU... WILL... PAY!!"

The police car drove off away from the scene now. Yukari and Nyamo left their hiding spot from the corner of the neighborhood, walking towards the house that made the scene. "Geez..." Yukari muttered under her breath. "Bad parents really are the WORST kind of people..."

"I know, but it can't be helped--" The Gym teacher shook her head. "Yukari!! What are we even doing here?! We shouldn't even be here--"

The both of them saw someone bringing a duffel bag out of the front door of the house. He set it aside, turned off the last light that was on, then closed and locked the door. A sigh left the person's lips, picking up the bag and turning around to head down the steps. "Huh?? K-Kurosawa-sensei? Tanizaki-sensei?!"

"Wha--Himeaoki-kun?!" Nyamo exclaimed as both teachers walked to him. "Wh-what happened? What was that all about?!"

"Yeah, are you alright, kid?" Yukari asked as well.

He looked at the English teacher, feeling a slight blush cross his features, but then looked up. "Yeah... I think I'll be fine. I think... ...I'm gonna be alright now. Now that SHE'S outta my life."

"But wait... wasn't she your--"

"Sensei." he looked coldly at the both of them, stopping whatever Nyamo was going to say. "...I trust the both of you... it's not something I give so_ freely_... If you really want to know what that was all about, I'll tell you; just keep me company by walking me to my friend's house. It's where I always go when shit like this happens."

Yukari just looked at him. "...Tell me this doesn't happen frequently..."

From that, Kyoto looked at her. "If by frequently you mean since I was _ten_... then yes, I'd say it's frequent..." Both of the teachers were just in shock. "Come then... walk with me."

00

**(Darkest Night)**

Fast, frequent steps, hurrying fast as fast can be. From fence, to ledge, to sidewalk, and on tree, back to fence. Never had it run so fast, or run AWAY from something. It was an animal, moving on instinct; its instinct was telling it to get away, FAR away from what it considered a threat.

_"You're good, little animal... you're WORTH this chase..."_

Something had cut it off in front of it. It darted off down another road. It then turned around, and stared at whatever was pursuing it, hissing to no end and baring its fangs.

_"So you stop running... then come at me, _noble_ beast."_

The sounds of a leap, and fangs sinking into something.

_"URGH... You're good. But just like an animal to make a dumb mistake like this... right where I WANT YOU..."_

The final roar of a dying animal, echoing into the unknown night.

0

"Wow..." Both teachers just stood there, stopping their walk, seeing him at the border of Kyoto's destination.

"Yeah..." He nods. "Basically, my dad dies overseas, mom gets all abusive and neglectful, I finally call the police after getting hard proof to show them, and now she's arrested... for GOOD, I hope."

"...But, she's still your _mother_, Himeaoki-kun..." Nyamo spoke. "You... you can't really be that relieved that she's gone."

"...Kurosawa-sensei... you're DAMN wrong... I AM relieved that she's gone. When she changed... she became the personal demon that haunted me until this very day."

"Well... if she really WAS this awful person who hurt you the way she did." Yukari stepped closer to him, her tone not sounding impressed. "Why wait until NOW to haul her away?"

"...Because I still had the dumb notion, and it's silly, no doubt about it, that she would change back... that, and she's a good liar." He looked up at the sky, and started chuckling to himself. "Heh, the only other person who knows about this is my best friend... and here I am, letting all this loose to my teachers that I only met a couple of days ago."

"Well..." Nyamo looked at the student, unsure of how to feel about. "You SHOULD'VE been telling an adult these things the INSTANT it started happening, not just now. It's not healthy otherwise."

"Yeah!" The English teacher walked up to him and planted a hand on his shoulder. "You keep that kind of crap bottled up, and you'd end up becoming a real FREAK like that woman who got hauled away." Yukari bluntly added. "Next time some crap like this comes up, TELL SOMEONE about it, damn it!"

"...Ehehe... what Yukari said." The gym teacher added.

He looked at both of the teachers before him. His expression went up a slight, his lips curving into a tiny smile, blushing a little. "...I'll take that to heart. Thanks... for being there, Kurosawa-sensei... Tanizaki-sensei."

"Ah, that's alright, you little munchkin." Yukari looked into his eyes and and patted the roughly-same size-as-her youth's hair, messing it up a little. "And hey, you should know by now that I'm a much cooler teacher than Nyamo here." Her friend looked at her oddly. "If ya want, you can address me by my first name. Everyone in one of my third year English classes do that."

His eyes shrunk a little, and he was stammering a little bit. "...'M-Miss Yukari'..." He had spoken it in English. He chuckled again. "Yeah. 'It sounds good... Miss Yukari.' Thank you again."

She beamed a Yukari-sized smile at him, impressed at the fact that in the couple of words he said in English, it was very fluent. "Aww, it was nothing. Now I'm _glad_ we went out of our way to keep ya company, not to forget that I'm glad I'm not drunk right now, but now we gotta get going. It's gonna be Saturday tomorrow," She sighed angrily, very annoyed by the concept. "And unfortunately our school isn't one of those nice ones that gets only five school days a week."

"Yes, take care of yourself and I'll see you in homeroom tomorrow, Himeaoki-kun."

The two teachers had walked away from the house, going their own ways home. The young man standing there felt a warm feeling inside him over what happened in the last couple of hours. "...Miss Yukari..." He thought to himself. "She touched my shoulder..." His grin widened, feeling himself get red in the face. And another noise made his head turn, snapping him out of whatever reverie he was in, seeing Sakakuro walking and talking on his cellphone.

"...Yes, of course." The taller youth had a big grin on his face. "I-I'll see you tomorrow then, Chihiro-senpai. Yeah... see you." He hung up then saw Kyoto looking at him. "Hm? Masanobu? What brings you--" He also then saw the duffle bag next to his feet. "Ah, something happened? Hmmm, odd... you seem to be in high spirits."

He nodded. "Just let me inside, Myoji, and I'll explain everything..." His lips curved wickedly. "...But only after you tell me what that was about, with _Chihiro-senpaiii..._" He laughed at seeing his best friend blush a little, well worth getting smacked upside the head after.

00

**(Morning)**

Little Chiyo-chan was humming something to herself, carrying her bookbag in her hands, spying Osaka catching up to her. "Mornin' Chiyo-chan!" The older said to the younger. "Did you have a good dream last night?"

"Yep, I certainly did, Miss Osaka!"

"Why don'tcha tell me what it's about?"

"Well... I don't really remember a lot of it. All I know was that it was a good dream."

"Ah..." She looked onward, seeing the clouds in the sky. "...You were chasin' your pig-tails... they escaped off of your head, and you were chasin' them all across the--"

A loud scream interrupted the Osakan girl, the both of them looking forward, seeing Sakaki all trembling and on her knees. Chiyo and Osaka ran over to her as fast as they both could go. As they kept getting nearer, they saw that she was crying, her eyes tearing up beyond anything.

"Sakaki-san, what's wrong?" Chiyo-chan asked the tall girl. When she didn't answer, the little girl peeked over her shoulder, and gasped in horror at the sight of it; the still, motionless body of a small grey cat in an alley. Her eyes widened even further. "WHA?!?! I-It's dead?!"

"..." Unsure, Osaka looked at Sakaki. "Is that that kitty that always bites ya?"

She nodded. "I recognize it... there's no doubt about it. It IS the Biting Cat."

"Oh no..." Chiyo-chan was speechless.

Osaka's solemn eyes looked up at the sky. "Maybe that kitty's up in Heaven... maybe he's bitin' God's hand now."

"Sakaki-san..." The little girl patted her shoulder.

"...Go on without me." Chiyo didn't understand what she meant, looking at her awkwardly. Sakaki turned her head. "Just go on to school without me; I don't care if I'm a little late today."

"Oh... a-alright then."

The two girls left Sakaki by herself, and were now out of visible sight. She looked down again at the lifeless animal, picking it up with both hands, one cupping the bashed-in head of the cat. She felt tears going down her cheeks as she walked away from the scene, looking for a place to give the mischievous but unfortunate animal a proper burial. "Who would do this to you...? You didn't deserve this... you didn't deserve ANY of this..."

00

**(Afternoon)**

"WHAT?!" Kagura was shocked to hear of it. "That cat that always bites Sakaki DIED?!"

"Yeah, when we saw Sakaki this morning, she was really shook up over the ordeal!" Chiyo-chan relayed to the other girls. "She told me and Miss Osaka to go on ahead and she said she'd be with us later..."

"Yeah, but Sakaki didn't come in this morning..." Yomi thought out loud. "In fact, it's almost time for English and Sakaki's still not here with us."

"Yeah, but Miss Yukari isn't here yet either, so we're still good... the first year class she teaches before us must really keep her on her feet!"

"...Or keep her awake."

Osaka had looked to her desk, all saddened. "Poor little meow-meow..."

"Hey, c'mon, don't feel SO bad about it." The glasses girl shrugged. "Knowing her luck, she'll probably just run into another cat that'll want to gnaw on her fingers."

"Oooh..." The little girl looked as if she was feeling sorry. "Why does the new cat have to want to bite Sakaki? Maybe it'll just be friendly to her, then she'd feel better!"

"That wouldn't balance it out, Chiyo-chan!" The spacy girl looked at her. "Ya gotta have the balance, or else it won't work! The next kitty that Sakaki-san pets is gonna be one that bites her!"

"Why are we even talking about this dumb cat?!" Tomo turned around. "Let's talk about the time we can go over to Chiyo-chan's place!"

"Huh?! Wh-why MY place??" The girl looked at her classmate.

"Your place is cooler, you silly rich girl! We can all hang out there, even those first-year guys can come too!" She looked up, thinking a little clearer. "Well... if they wanna anyway. I'll drag that... ...brother of mine... it's still new to me that I have a brother. I'm dragging him with us, for sure. That guy STUDIES too much..."

"Huh... you ARE starting to sound like a real big sister now." Yomi added.

"O-of course I'm a real big sister! I'm the real deal here!" She got up, rolled her notebook up and thwapped Yomi on the head with it. Yomi simply roared in annoyance as Tomo gloated about it.

"Well, maybe not this week, but maybe some time next week I can invite you guys over. That sounds good, yes?"

At that moment when the girls agreed with Chiyo, the classroom door slid open as Sakaki finally walked in, looking as stoic as ever, with the exception that she still looked a little shaky. She went over to her desk, looking a little more disturbed than she was in the morning.

"Sakaki... will you be okay?" Kagura walked up to her, putting her hand on her shoulder.

"...The police saw me and the Biting Cat." She said. "They were looking at him, then they told me they'd give it its proper rest. But... as I was leaving..." She looked at her and the other girls now. "I didn't mean to overhear them... but they said, that the cat... it died the same way as that girl from in front of the school gates..."

"WHAT??"

Six faces of confusion stared into nothingness, even as Miss Yukari finally came inside the classroom, doing a little twirl of excitement, then yelling at her students to get their textbooks out. The girls didn't see her. Right now, the girls didn't want to bother seeing Miss Yukari yelling at them to follow suit. Right now... none of this made sense to them.

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A/N: Please let me know what you think of this! The adventure will be sure to rise on up!


	4. Mode 4

The Third Year

Disclaimer: Any of the characters or themes that appear that AREN'T owned by me are copyright of Kiyohiko Azuma, who created Azumanga Daioh and Yotsubato/Yotsuba&, and thus am making no money out of this. The only thing I own here are some OCs and this fic. No more, no less.

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[An uneventful week passes...]

**(Lunchtime)**

The skies were getting dotted with small formations of clouds, but it was still a sunny day, with circles of shades painting the school roof and the city in front of the school in shady columns. The roof never usually gets a consistent stream of lunch-eating lifeforms, seeing as most students would either just stay in the classrooms or go to the cafeteria to eat their lunches. But right now, the school roof became so much more to some other students in particular.

"Man... who knew a teacher like Tanizaki-sensei could dish out such a HARD TEST?!" Moto whined out loud, slinking against the barred railing.

"Yeah, and to think, she didn't seem like the kind of teacher to pull something like _that_ out on us... those questions weren't what I expected. But I think I did well." Sakakuro smiled as he started eating his lunch.

"...Yeah, me too." Kyoto nodded, a grin creeping up his face. "In fact, I could say I beat out BOTH of your asses!"

"Well, I doubt you could beat the Boss, man." The yellow-eyed boy grinned wide. "Ya probably beat ME straight-out though. I may be good at a lot of subjects, but I guess English is where YOU guys outshine me the most!"

"Huh..." He glared at the yellow-eyed boy. "You think the Boss can best ME? 'You must not think highly of me if you think HE can top me in English'."

"Um... 'I THINK I have a good chance at rivalling you, Emo-boy'." Sakakuro added against Kyoto, laughing a little at the other teen.

His eyes narrowed, glaring at the much taller teen. "HEY!! 'DON'T CALL ME EMO, YOU SON OF A BIT'--"

"Hey, wait, wait, wait!! What are you two even talking about?!" Moto spoke up, clearly not understanding what his two friends were continuing to argue about. "Hey... HEY! Now you're just making fun of me because I'm not that good at English! STOP LEAVING ME OUT!!"

The two stopped their English session, looked at Moto, then the three of them just burst out in laughter, moving on to a different topic, like strategies in an action game, and what they each answered for their questions in yesterday's English test. Some more laughs at the expense of an embarrassed guy after, and a group of girls come on up to the roof.

"ALRIGHT!" Tomo screamed out loud. "IT'S YUMMY LUNCH TIME!!" Her eyes then turned to the three first years, who were eating their lunches in relative piece too, her gaze turned fierce. "HEY UNDERCLASSMEN! CLEAR OUT! THIS IS OUR SPOT NOW!"

"Tomo!" Chiyo-chan whined outloud. "They were here first! Besides, we can all just share this place! No one said that this place was automatically ours."

"Ugh... Runt, you sure know how to spoil my fun, ya know that..." Tomo sighed out of annoyance, pointing to the three boys. "I was JUST _messing_ with the first-years!! It's what the senpai DO to make sure the underclassmen know where they stand!"

"Yeah," Moto looked at her, a smirk gracing his lips. "I'm glad we have a _mature_ senpai such as Tomo onee-chan to teach us these little things, right guys?"

She got up right to his face, eyes glaring into his. "HEY! Watch those words of yours, little brother..."

"Oh... then I guess I should stop helping you with YOUR homework too, huh?"

"..." She got her distance, now sitting beside him. She could practically feel Yomi trying hard not to burst out laughing at the situation. "Anyways, what were you guys talking about?"

"Just discussing what answers we put down on our English test."

Yomi's eyebrow perked up. "So you finally got a taste of Yukari's tests. Really, they're not that hard to answer, and it's especially funny since--OH did she do her own test too like she did with us in our first year?"

Sakakuro nodded. "Yeah, that's what she did; she said she'd do it with us just for kicks; the sad part was that it looked like she was stumped too."

"Ooh! Was she walking around and looking over your shoulders too?" Tomo smirked.

"Yeah, she totally did!" The other Takino confirmed. "At first I thought she was going around making sure nobody was cheating, but then I saw her looming her head over some of us, and humming a little something to herself as she went back to her desk and started writing!"

"Yeah," Kagura agreed, scratching the back of her head. "That SOUNDS like something she'd do." Now the athlete was lost in thought for a bit. "How in the _world_ did Yukari get to be a teacher anyway?"

"No kidding." Yomi added as she started unpacking her lunch. "I know there are some of those stellar moments where she actually SHINES as a teacher... and then, there are her LESS than perfect times." She took a bite of her lunch. "Really, she confounds me."

"Yukari-sensei's just very... eccentric..." Chiyo giggled awkwardly, sitting herself between her friends and the first years. "She IS a good teacher when she isn't scary."

"Hmph..." The red-banged boy finished his lunch, looking at the little girl. "I don't find Yukari-sensei scary at all. In fact, I find her quite a comfortable sight, little girl..."

"HEY!" Now it was her turn to be taken aback. "I may be a kid, but I'm still an upperclassman! I want you to call me senpai, underclassman!"

He 'hmphed' again, infuriating the little girl into an angry eating fit. "Just to make yourself feel important, huh... _little senpai_." He choked out sarcastically.

Her anger melted into a smile, loving the fact that someone referred to her as a senpai, even if she didn't sense the mocking undertone. "That reminds me, everyone... how would you like to come over to my house after school? You guys can come too!"

"Yeah! That ALWAYS rocks!!" Tomo cheered.

"Yeah... sounds good." Sakaki was excited as well, since that meant she could get to play with Chiyo's dog.

"Wait..." The yellow-eyed boy looked at the little girl. "You mean us as well?"

"Of course you guys can come too!" She smiled at the boys, then turned to the supposed 'background character girl'. "Would you like to come too, Chihiro-san?"

"Huh?!" Tomo turned around, taking a good long look at the short-haired girl. "Wait... since when did we know HER? And when did she get here too?!"

"Damn it, Tomo! She's one of our classmates!" Yomi barked at her, smacking her hard on the face with her work booklet. "Even if she doesn't make herself known to us all that often, or the fact that we don't know much about her, it doesn't mean we should ignore her." Her bespectacled eyes turned to Chihiro, sensing an awkward mood coming over the both of them. "No offense."

"None taken." She answered back quietly, taking the other seat between the first years and Chiyo-chan. "I wouldn't mind seeing Chiyo-chan's house too... it'd be my first time seeing it."

"Well, then the four of you are really in for a treat! You're gonna LOVE Chiyo-chan's house!" Tomo blurted out loud. "This girl's so rich, and she has such a BIG house that you'd all wish your own houses were just as good as hers!" She suddenly turned to said little girl, startling her a little. "Give me your house, runt! I wanna live in it!!"

"Um... uh... I'm afraid I can't do that..."

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**(After School)**

_"Oh so you're hanging out with your friends today, Sis?"_

"That's right." Chihiro was on the phone. "And what are you going to do today?"

_"I just came home to drop off my school stuff. I'm gonna go over to Ena's house now!"_

"Okay, I hope you have a good time at Ena-chan's place then, Miura. And don't stay out too late!" She was getting her school things into her bookcase, snapping it shut after.

_"I WON'T, Sis... Hope you have a good time too!"_

"Thanks! See you at home!" After her goodbye, she hung up and pocketed her cellphone in her case. She turned around and saw Yomi and Chiyo-chan behind her. "Sorry. I had to make sure my little sister was okay."

"It's cool." Yomi said. "The others are waiting with the boys downstairs. Seems to be the thing now to travel in groups."

"Yeah... ever since two more murders happened since last week..." The short-haired girl started walking with the two out of the classroom and through the hall. "They kept showing a summary of the victims on the news; first there was that high school girl, then that grey Biting Cat... the others were, like... a businessman and then some housewife?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Yomi confirmed. "They were all killed at night, and they all died via blunt force head trauma... Really, I don't care so much about this, since I'm not a detective or anything... but it HAS seemed to shake up the city and unnerve a lot of people..."

"Yeah..." Chihiro nodded. "People are advised not to go around late at night, and if they do go around, to never go by yourself."

"Um..." Chiyo looked up at both of the conversing girls, her discomfort from the current mood revealing itself. "Can we talk about something else? I-I don't really..." She was starting to tremble slightly. "I don't feel comfortable talking about these things..."

"Right... Sorry, Chiyo-chan." Chihiro said.

"Aw, you don't wanna know the specifics of HOW they died, Chiyo-chan??" Yomi grinned wickedly. "Something HARD bashed open their heads firstly... And some of the victims even had their stomachs cut open and--"

"STOP IT!!" The little girl screamed, her hands immediately rooting themselves to their ears, running down the stairs to the rest of the students. "STOP IT! STOP IT!!"

"Hey, whoa, whoa!" Kagura kneeled to catch the frantic girl. "Calm down, Chiyo-chan! What's the matter?"

"Honestly, I don't see why Chiyo-chan's freaking out." The glasses-wearing girl shrugged her arms, she and Chihiro coming down the steps. "She's getting older, so she has to start becoming more aware of the world around her."

"I KNOW! But not by you telling me about all that gross stuff!!" She started over-reacting again, hiding behind Kagura.

"Geez, Yomi..." Tomo looked at her best friend. "Don't go ruining Chiyo-chan's innocence by telling her about bloody stuff like that... You gotta save it for a scary story!!"

"You idiots aren't helping!" Kagura harped at the both of them. She sighed and then patted the little genius's back reassuringly. "Feeling better, Chiyo-chan?"

"Y-Y-Y-Yeah..." She looked up to the older athlete, recomposing herself. "I'll be fine. Thank you. Anyway, let's go, everyone!"

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"Wow... it's so big!"

"This house is massive..."

"Holy shit..."

"This lobby's ginormous enough!"

Chiyo-chan smiled out of embarrassment and pride as Chihiro, Sakakuro, Kyoto and Moto complimented her house. "Well, it's really not THAT big..."

"Aww, don't be modest, Chiyo-chan!" Tomo playfully bonked the top of the little girl's head with her fist. "You could probably fit my entire PLACE in this room alone!"

"Owie... you're overexaggerating again, Tomo..." She rubbed her head.

"In all seriousness, Chiyo-chan, your house really IS so big!" Chihiro was still in awe at the grand lobby. "My room... my sister Miura's room... I even think my PARENTS' room can all fit in just this room here!"

"Ehehehe... Chihiro, now you're just making me..." Not taking this second wave of compliments well, Chiyo-chan giggled nervously.

Immediately, the little genius girl showed off every single part of her house as if she was an adorable little tour guide, at least that's what everyone thought of her. Chihiro and the first years simply couldn't believe their eyes at all the unbelievably large rooms, especially the little girl's room herself. Her friends weren't that awe-struck, but they had to reminisce about how big each room was again. And to their surprise, a happy Mr. Tadakichi was waiting for them in their last stop, the entertainment room.

"And here we have--OOOH! Hello Mr. Tadakichi!" She walked up to her loyal canine, hugging him lovingly. "Mr. Tadakichi, we have LOTS of guests! Say hello to them!" The dog barked proudly, getting a loving pat from Chiyo-chan, smiling at the gentle beast in turn.

The tall guy whistled out of amazement. "You have such a well-trained dog, Chiyo-senpai." He knelt down beside the animal, offering his hand to it. "My little Excel's a cute ball of fur, but it's such a scampering little puppy!" When Mr. Tadakichi didn't bite his hand, he started petting the dog, feeling a little accepted.

"Yeah..." Osaka smiled. "_That's_ how ya treat the French."

"...What the HELL are you talking about?" Kyoto, however, looked at the Osakan strangely.

"Wha...??" Sakaki looked at the boy petting the dog. "Y-you like animals too?" She asked him outloud. She tried to stiffen up when she realized what she asked, pretending that it didn't interest her, since she thought that liking cute things like animals contradicted herself.

"Yeah, I like animals." He nodded. "I'm not much of a cat person, but I really love dogs!"

"Oh... so... you like puppies..." She walked over, having her turn to pet Mr. Tadakichi. "...I like animals too..." She said quietly, seemingly never ceasing her petting assault on the Great Pyrenees.

"Whoa... you DO, Sakaki?" Kagura looked at her friend. "I always figured that you'd hate them because that Biting Cat always kept hurting you."

Sakaki looked back at her friend, shaking her head, her eyes showing off a feeling of hurt in them. "I don't hate animals... I'm just, scared to get near them... what if they're all going to lash out at me..."

"That's not true, Sakaki-san!!" The little girl chided her, staring intently into the eyes of her giant friend. "Not every single animal's going to want to hurt you! And I bet one day there's gonna be an animal who'll want YOU to take care of it and love it!"

"Chiyo-chan..." The tall girl looked at the little girl. She pulled her into a big hug. "Thank you, Chiyo-chan..."

"Hey!! Chiyo-chaaan!" Tomo yelled out from the other side of the entertainment room, sitting with the other half of their group. "Come on you guys, let's have some fun already!! Let's watch a scary movie!"

"WHAT?! Tomo, NOO! I DON'T WANNA!!"

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**(Night)**

"Thank you very much for inviting us over again, Chiyo-chan." Sakaki said gratefully; after a scary movie (to Tomo and Kyoto's delight) and a light-hearted comedy followed shortly after (which Sakaki picked to relieve the little girl of accidentally uncovering her eyes at the gory ending of the previous film), she and everyone else were getting ready to head back home. Tomo and Moto had already left with Yomi to take her home, boasting she'd use her brother as a shield in case something tried to come out at them. Kagura took Osaka with her to stop by the local convenience store before dropping off the spacy girl. Chihiro had just started to leave with Sakakuro, worrying about whether her sister Miura made it home safely from her friend's house. And now, Sakaki was getting ready to go too.

"It's never a problem, Sakaki!" The girl said cheerfully. "You know I like having you guys over to my house! I'm happy you guys enjoyed yourselves!"

"...Yes. I have to say, I had a good time." Their heads turned to Kyoto, looking out a window.

"Um... Kyoto-kun, shouldn't you have gone with your friend?" The tall girl asked.

"I'll catch up to his place eventually... but, right now, I wanna give him his privacy." He could feel their 'huh?' looks while he was gazing out the window. "Come see what I mean." Sakaki and Chiyo walked over to the window, looking out with him. The three of them were seeing the taller scarred boy and Chihiro slowing their walk, talking to each other. The girl started to blush, was saying some words to him, and then she was drawn into a kiss, reciprocating the first-year's feelings. "See?" Kyoto smirked. "I'll let those two have their privacy for a bit..."

"Wow... so bold of him..." Sakaki thought to herself.

"Yeah, who would've figured Whatshername over there would like an underclassmen?"

"Well, to each their own... Wait a minute..."

At the mystery voice, Sakaki, Kyoto, and Chiyo turned around to see Yukari standing before them. The three of them were startled out of their minds. "MISS YUKARI?!"

"Wh-what are you doing here??" Chiyo-chan asked timidly.

"I overheard you inviting your friends over to your place today, and I was gonna surprise you by coming earlier, but my bike chain broke off, and that _Tardboy_ wasn't around so I couldn't take HIS bike instead, and Nyamo already left, so I had to WALK here... that, and you left your front door open."

Sakaki blushed deeply. "Oops... sorry, Chiyo-chan"

"N-no need to apologize, Sakaki..." She assured her friend, looking at the three people still here. "Well, since you three are still here, would you guys care for some tea and cookies before you go?"

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"So THIS is inside Chiyo-chan's house..." Yukari sipped her tea, looking around the quaint living room. "It's so BIG... It's bigger than my parents' house! I could fit my whole room in this one!"

"Yeah, that's everyone's first reaction, Miss Yukari..." Kyoto mused out loud, looking out the window momentarily before looking back at everyone else.

"Well, I knew that she was smart and that her folks were rich... but, WOW..." Her eyes turned to Chiyo-chan coming back into the room, glaring at her. "HEY RUNT! As your teacher, I command you to give me this house!!"

"M-Miss Yukari..." Sakaki said timidly, surprised that Yukari unintentionally followed in Tomo's motion of demanding the property from the little girl.

"But Miss Yukari, my mom and dad would get mad at me if I let you take the house..." The little girl whined. Her eyes turned to the small TV in the room. "I wanna check the weather quickly; I hope it'll be nice and sunny tomorrow!"

"Don't get too high about hope, little girl." He said as she turned on the TV. "Besides, it's been cloudy and/or rainy the last two Sundays... it's gonna be a hat trick of overcast, I bet."

"How are you so certain about that?" Sakaki called him out. He shrugged his shoulders, as if basing his thought on a hunch, and she turned back to the little girl who had turned on the TV.

"Oooh!" The little girl got excited; the weather report came up, and the charts showed that tomorrow would bring higher temperatures and sunny weather. "Yay!! It's gonna be sunny tomorrow!"

She turned around and smiled in cocky triumph towards the young man. He 'hmph'ed in defeat, eating a cookie. Just as she was getting ready to sit down, the broadcast was interrupted with a sudden feed.

_"This just in! We've received word that there is a complex situation going on at the Azuma-garyu Municipial Courthouse."_ The screen suddenly shifted to a brightly lit building. Police cars were lined up along the length of the building, and officers were standing right outside the building. The lights were shining on a middle-aged woman wearing prisoner garbs, with her hands in cuffs. Her standing, stoic frame was being shined on, standing on the edge of the magnificent window ledge, as if she was getting ready to jump off the building.

"What the heck??" Chiyo and Sakaki looked at the picture, seeing large police-lights shining on the woman's face. Yukari's face lit up in surprise, while Kyoto's was locked in terror.

_"As you can see here, Onodaiba-san,"_ a reporter was talking into her microphone, looking up to the scene. _"This woman here, identified as 39-year old Hanami Himeaoki, standing to appear on trial for child negligence and abuse, and more recently, assaulting an officer and attempting to escape police custody, has been standing on the edge, risking committing suicide. Police are attempting to talk her out of jumping out of the window and quelling her back into the building."_

"Himeaoki??" Chiyo-chan enunciated the name, then looked back at the stun-locked boy. "Kyoto-kun? Is that--"

"Yeah, I've seen that woman before..." The sole teacher in the room spoke up for him, then cocked a smirk. "I saw her butt get arrested. BOY was she kicking and screaming too! It was so pathetic it was almost kinda funny."

_"How has the situation changed?"_ The announcer asked the reporter.

_"Well Onodaiba-san, police have been trying to talk some sense into her, but for the last half-hour, she's been going on non-stop about wanting to see her son, and that she'll come back down the instant she sees her son again--WAIT! Something just happened! There's--there's someone behind her! The police are shining the light on the situation! There's someone cloaked in black, appearing to be pulling her back inside the building!"_

_"...L-LET ME GO, DAMN YOU!!"_ The woman was screaming, barely audible from the reporter's location. _"MY SON! I WANT TO SEE MY SON AGAIN!! LET ME SEE MY--..."_

_"Wait... why did she stop...?"_ The reporter was downright confused now, moving a little closer to the scene until the reason was made apparent; the person wasn't helping the prisoner back inside, as apparent by the bloodied weapon it was holding in one hand; the other arm was still holding her by her neck. _"Oh... Oh no..."_ This was also confirmed when the mysterious character threw her body off the building, becoming impaled on the sharp, pointed fence.

"What...??" The tall girl couldn't comprehend what just happened while Chiyo-chan was covering her eyes and screaming from watching the impaling, and the bloody bashed in skull.

"Oh yeah, she's _dead_." Yukari said calmly, treating the situation like as if she was watching a bloody film. Beside her, the young man had become almost motionless, gazing blankly at the TV screen at the body, and at the sounds of the reporter frantically telling the camera crew to shut off the broadcast. She looked at him, wondering if this really was affecting him, before ominous laughter echoed from the scene.

**_"Just as the Master predicted..."_** The voice came loud and clear from the mystery character, raising its hand up, its bloody weapon glowing brightly. **_"The five sacrifices to you, Master... let this worthless city be the stage for your upcoming welcome to this plane of reality!"_**

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The ground began to shake...

All around the city, buildings and roads were beginning to quake violently, and people were running for cover, as five large pillars of unholy light shot up all over the city. The points of light started moving, destroying whatever got in its way, moving slowly but leaving nothing behind in its wake of action. Once the lights stopped moving, the pillars fired out more deathly violet beams of light, crossing and intersecting with each other, incinerating whatever buildings were tall and unfortunate enough to be in its path.

People all over the city were then starting to lose consciousness, collapsing everywhere due to the unnatural, hellish pressure permeating throughout the city. The cityscape and sky were becoming clouded over with darkness, engulfing everything.

From above, the city was encompassed in an unnatural shade. The only light shining through were the bright violet-white lights, creating the boundary of the ruined city, bordered within a massive pentagram.

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A/N: In the upcoming chapters, we'll finally start getting to some action and adventure. Please be patient!


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